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<div id="table-of-contents">
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<div id="text-table-of-contents">
<ul>
<li><a href="#org444df9c">1. An Affair with C++</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#orgaec946e">1.1. Falling in love</a></li>
<li><a href="#orga91db2f">1.2. The trauma</a></li>
<li><a href="#org37ebed7">1.3. Aftermath</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org444df9c" class="outline-2">
<h2 id="org444df9c"><span class="section-number-2">1</span> An Affair with C++</h2>
<div class="outline-text-2" id="text-1">
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orgaec946e" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="orgaec946e"><span class="section-number-3">1.1</span> Falling in love</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-1-1">
<p>
It was in college, when I was studying computer science that I first
learnt C++ as part of the curriculum. Prior to C++, I had studied how to
program using C. C++ was (or still is) considered to be an improvement
to the C language. I remember reading Stephen Prata as the textbook
and Lippman as the reference for learning C++. The course was called
"Object Oriented Programming using C++". This meant a paradigm shift
from the erstwhile imperative programming (using a language like C).
We were taught, as part of the course, to think in terms of <i>objects</i>.
Real world objects to be precise. It could be abstract too. Jargon such as inheritance, polymorphism and
encapsulation became a parlance. A parlance associated with object
orientation. I was wondering back then, "Why C++? when C could do it"
The programming constructs such as a <i>class</i> in C++ seemed alien. I
started off with rewriting C programs in C++. It was an easier way to learn the
syntax and features of a new programming language. Rewrite. I remember
writing simple programs for calculating simple interest, bank account (just
deposit, withdraw and interest calculation) and so on. Gradually, the
object oriented features were introduced and programs for the same
were implemented. I found C++ to be a little simpler to understand.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-orga91db2f" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="orga91db2f"><span class="section-number-3">1.2</span> The trauma</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-1-2">
<p>
C was a horror when it came to pointers, function pointers,
multi-dimensional arrays, and implementing higher level data structures like trees,
dictionaries etc. I had real trouble writing programs for implementing
data structures. Huffman's algorithm in particular was a real challenge. Till date,
I have not been able to implement it in either C or C++. Joel Spolsky,
a software developer from New York, who created StackOverflow.com,
states: 'programming is an <i>aptitude</i>' in one of his blogs. The
real mettle of a programmer lies in the ability to think through
abstractions. Two things that matter the most according to his blog are:
Pointers and Recursion. He fails to understand why most people cannot
think through these abstractions. It is probably an innate ability of
a person and not something that one can practice and acquire. I would even
go to an extent of calling it a <i>talent</i>. One can acquire skills through
practice but to become a successful programmer, say someone like Linus
Torvalds, one has to have this in-born ability.
Back to C++, I did manage to get good grades in that course, the only
challenge with C++ was friend functions. Why befriend someone when you
can acquaint? Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, may have a strong
reasoning behind that. Bjarne's talk on Big Think channel of YouTube
was inspiring. I found his way of working noteworthy. He would use a
small laptop, eleven or thirteen inches, not more than that, to
write programs during his travels, and use a headphone to listen to a
wide collection of music while programming. I would call Torvalds,
Stroustrup and their likes as 'Celebrity Artists'. Artists who hone and
master the art of computer programming and wield influence on a lot of
fellow programmers. I remember a college professor of mine, who
used C++ as a language of choice for understanding abstractions. From
machine level to the application level: C++ did it all. Things such as
'name mangling' comes to my mind. He had worked at Yahoo, prior to
joining our college. I remember him saying -
"The purpose of inheritance is to avoid if-else conditions in the
program". I couldn't counter that argument till date.
On the contrary, it was reaffirmed by one of my senior
colleagues at work, years later. Standard template library (STL) was a life
saviour as it provided all the data structures that a C++ programmer
would ever need. This was the case, at least back in 2009. After that, I learnt
Java and never touched C++ for at least a decade to come.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="outline-container-org37ebed7" class="outline-3">
<h3 id="org37ebed7"><span class="section-number-3">1.3</span> Aftermath</h3>
<div class="outline-text-3" id="text-1-3">
<p>
During 2018-19, I was part of Thirty Meter Telescope project's Observatory software quality
assurance team, wherein I felt the urge to write some C++ code. I took
up the task of porting objects written in Scala/Java to C++. Some interfaces
were needed for the Event services, as part of the observatory
software. After that, when I moved to another organisation and started working on
Cisco WebEx teams software, I had tried to use C++ for a certain
feature called 'Buttons and Cards'. I had to meddle with C++ code for
that. I gave up after a week or so. The cognitive load of going
through files of C++ code was overwhelming me. It wasn't the C++ that
I had learnt in college; C++ 11, 17 were in vogue now. It had asynchronous
functions and weird callbacks. Tad harder to understand using a debugger. I resorted
to Java and JavaScript, the languages which almost anyone can program using,
without many hassles. I am an avid gamer and most of AAA titles
released are written using C++. The language for building modern day
console games is C++. I remember tutoring fundamentals of Python
programming to Prince, a thirteen year old kid from USA, a year ago,
who said - "Minecraft in C++ is faster than Minecraft in Java". He
wanted to learn C++ so that he could tweak Minecraft code. I was
shocked and perplexed. I initiated C++,
starting with the usual 'Hello world' program. The verbosity of C++ as
compared to say Python, made it hard for Prince to write programs. Prince and I
were used to the Python's bonhomie. Both of us struggled at the
beginning, later we decided to learn something else.
</p>
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<p class="author">Author: Girish</p>
<p class="date">Created: 2022-01-27 Thu 11:37</p>
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